Crawley’s bid for city status is supported by West Sussex County Council

As part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations next year, she is due to confer city status on a number of towns – and they have until Wednesday (December 8) to submit their bids.

In 2012, the Diamond Jubilee year, Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph received the honour – and Crawley hopes to join them in 2022.

During a meeting of the cabinet on Friday (December 3), leader Paul Marshall said: “The timing of the bid not only celebrates the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee but also the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Crawley as a New Town.

“The town has developed and thrived during the entire reign of Her Majesty and the county council sees nothing but enormous benefits from the town receiving the city status.”

If Crawley’s bid proves successful, it would be the first of the post-World War Two New Towns to be given the honour.

It’s message to the Queen has been centred around that very point: “Seventy-five years ago, you made Crawley a New Town. In that time, we have grown to become a regional powerhouse.

“Imagine what we can achieve if you made us a New City.”

The town’s motto is ‘I grow and I rejoice’ – a motto it has certainly lived up to over the last 75 years.

Once a sleepy market town with a population of 9,000 in 1947, New Town status saw it transformed to become home to more than 114,000 residents, a £6bn economy and Gatwick Airport, the world’s busiest single-runway airport.